Fourth suspect in custody, more arrests expected

Saturday

EAST STROUDSBURG — The area of Hill and Normal streets was abuzz with police activity after a report of shots fired on Hill Street turned into a search for four suspects, with one still at-large.

Police were called to the scene of 458 Hill Street shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday after two 911 calls reporting a gunshot in the area, according to scanner police reports.

Initial reports over the scanner indicated that four black males were suspects and, both, a black and silver BMW were involved. An individual who called 911 said they heard arguing inside of the house before the shot was fired.

The black BMW 528i model later fled police pursuit on Mary Street and entered the athletic fields located on the street in an attempt to flee.

According to police on the scene, the alleged suspects abandoned the vehicle in the field and fled on foot into the neighboring woods. Subsequent to the vehicle’s abandonment, it made contact with an East Stroudsburg University Police Vehicle. One individual was taken into custody at the scene of the abandoned vehicle, while a fifth individual, that fled the black BMW, remains at large.

Neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, reported seeing two black males running through their Normal Street yards shortly after shots were heard.

Police activity blocked off the intersection of Gwendolyn and Normal Streets in East Stroudsburg from approximately 2:30 until 3:30 and police were visibly armed as they made their way to and from the scene. At around 3:14 an individual was loaded into an ambulance that had arrived on the scene.

It is still unknown what this person’s connection to events was, but he was handcuffed to the stretcher as he was loaded into the ambulance. Neighbors on scene said the individual was a frequent face in the community.

An emergency text alert was sent to ESU students at 3:47 p.m. alerting them that a fourth suspect had not yet been apprehended and that he was armed.

At 3:54, East Stroudsburg University sent out an email to students advising them that three of four suspects were in custody but the fourth was not yet in custody. The email described the suspect as a “light skinned, black male wearing a white shirt and black or dark pants, last seen running into the woods heading towards E. Brown Street”.

According to a press release from Stroud Area Regional Police received by the Pocono Record at 10:45 p.m., the person who fired the shot was arrested by police sometime on Saturday. Four individuals were arrested in total by SARP with charges pending. The fifth individual who fled the black BMW was identified. Multiple persons are expected to be arrested in connection to this incident as the investigation continues, SARP police chief Jennifer Lyon said in the press release.

For neighbors who were not around at the time of the incident, coming home to police activity and a crime scene nearby was disheartening but not surprising, according to Leslie Howell.

“It’s scary but it does not surprise me,” said Howell, as she watched police activity from the corner.

For Howell, this is the second time in about a year that gunshots have disrupted her neighborhood. Less than a year ago, during Dec. 2017, Richard Labar, 58, lost his life after being shot during a robbery as he delivered pizza to an address on Normal Street.

“It’s always something going on in the neighborhood. Always something. The last time I heard shots being fired is when the man got shot from Domino’s Pizza,” Howell said.

Police were still investigating the incident at time of press, check PoconoRecord.com for further updates.

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